Del Sol Quartet

San Francisco’s Del Sol Quartet believes that music can, and should, happen anywhere - screaming out Aeryn Santillan’s Makeshift Memorials from a Mission District sidewalk or a rural high school, bouncing Ben Johnston’s microtonal Americana off the canyon walls of the Yampa River or the hallowed walls of Library of Congress, bringing California immigrant poetry to life inside the Angel Island detention barracks or the Singapore International Arts Festival. Del Sol’s performances provide the possibility for unexpected discovery, sparking dialogue and bringing people together.

Del Sol has commissioned or premiered hundreds of works by composers including Terry Riley, Gabriela Lena Frank, Tania León, Frederic Rzewski, Vijay Iyer, Mason Bates, Pamela Z, Chinary Ung, Chen Yi, Andy Akiho, and Reza Vali. Many of these works are included on Del Sol’s critically-acclaimed albums. Recent recordings include The Resonance Between with sarodist Alam Khan and sitarist Arjun Verma, and SPELLLING and The Mystery School with Oakland magical-futurist pop phenomenon SPELLLING. Huang Ruo - A Dust in Time, Del Sol’s eleventh album, released by Bright Shiny Things, was described in the New York Times as “excavations of beauty from the elemental.” 

The 2025/26 season includes a tour of China, with Del Sol’s first performances at the festivals in Nanning, Hangzhou, and Xi’an. Back home, they continue their groundbreaking concert series at the Angel Island Immigration Station. Returning to Columbia University’s Miller Theater, Del Sol celebrates Chinary Ung with a Composer Portrait Concert. In collaboration with San Francisco poet-laureate, Genny Lim, Del Sol creates a multi-media performance Facing the Moon - Songs of the Diaspora with new music by Vivian Fung, Theresa Wong, and Meilina Tsui. Del Sol will serve as house-band for the Korean Experimental Music Festival in partnership with the National Gugak Center in Seoul and the University of California in Santa Cruz and Berkeley.

Huang Ruo’s ANGEL ISLAND - Oratorio was commissioned by the Del Sol Quartet to shine a light on local history with global implications. Supported by a Hewlett Foundation 50 Commission, the work came to life through numerous community programs, culminating in performances on Angel Island inside the immigration station detention barracks. Del Sol has taken ANGEL ISLAND around the world in productions with the The US Air Force Band Singing Sargents, Volti, UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus, Taipei Chamber Singers, Choir of Trinity Wall Street, and soloists of Santa Fe Opera. This project instigated a podcast “Sounds Current,”  which was an official selection at the Tribeca Festival 2024 and won a gold award at the Signal Awards.  

The Quartet has performed at prestigious venues and festivals worldwide, including the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Esplanade Singapore, National Museum of Asian Art, National Gallery of Art, Symphony Space, Miller Theater, Other Minds Festival, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Clefworks Festival, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Santa Fe Opera, and Chautauqua Institution. Every spring, Del Sol and Holiday Expeditions lead five-day musical whitewater adventures along the Yampa River. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Del Sol initiated The Joy Project, an ongoing series of outdoor pop-up concerts featuring short commissioned works inspired by the theme of joy. These pieces reached thousands in public spaces around the Bay Area — parks, sidewalks, open-spaces — where people could enjoy the music in the open air.

Deeply committed to education, Del Sol enjoys working with young composers. Over the years, talented students they first met through workshops, coaching and residencies have often grown into valued colleagues.They especially value their ongoing relationship with the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music in Boonville, California.

Benjamin Kreith & Hyeyung Sol Yoon, violins

Charlton Lee, viola

Kathryn Bates, cello